"Every government degenerates when trusted
to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore are its
only safe depositories."
-- Thomas Jefferson

Perhaps it is a universal truth that the
loss of liberty at home is to be charged to provisions against danger,
real or pretended, from abroad."
-- James Madison, 1798

"Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."
-- French Revolution slogan

What good will it be for a man if he gains
the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?…We will have to repent in this
generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people
but for the appalling silence of the good people…We have flown the air
like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple
act of walking the earth like brothers…We must learn to live together as
brothers or perish together as fools.
-- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

When I despair,I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have
always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they
can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it -
always.
-- Gandhi

All that is needed for the forces of evil to
triumph is for enough good men to do nothing.
-- Edmund Burke

F

rom
California to Maine, the United States is teeming with good, decent and
talented Americans whose potential is as unlimited as the vast expanse of
the universe. Of all creeds, colors, ethnicities and religions, those
lucky enough to call this great land home find themselves living in the
wealthiest nation the world has ever seen. Through our hard work we can
afford to live in expensive and monotonous
cookie-cutter-loss-of-individuality homes made of plywood cut down from
once-pristine forests in Brazil, Africa or Indonesia. We can afford two
mammoth-sized gas-guzzling tank-SUVs thirsty for Latin American or Middle
East oil. Merrily this holiday season we purchase and consume numerous
durable and non-durable products made by developing nations’ low-wage
slave labor we support through our extravagant demand. And, of course, we
eagerly devour the abundance of mercury and pesticide-laced,
preservative-filled, hormone-induced, chemically injected, fat and sugar
covered, artificially flavored foods, products, fruits and vegetables that
we see at grocery stores and restaurants that are humbly provided to us
by, who else, corporations.

Yes, we are gluttonous
primates, one and all, swimming in an ocean of overabundance, swerving
giant waves of the vast amount of trash we produce and swallowing
overflowing tides of materialism on our way to do that which we have been
trained so well to do: shop and consume. We must keep our corporate feudal
lords happy with our tribute to them in the form of our hard-earned wages,
after all. The Leviathan’s feeding frenzy has begun, that special time of
year when our wallets and purses are made smaller and our debts larger. To
the Leviathan, Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, full of
materialistic joy and consumeristic merriment, so full of jolly profit and
growth, cheerful pillage and exploitation. So, as we hear bells, jingles
and carols, watch the hurricane-like tempest of corporate advertisements
flushed onto our screens urging us to consume, see the bright twinkling
lights in frenzied malls, smell our aromatic pine trees covered in
decorations and feel the cold chill we all associate with joy, happiness
and Christmas, keep in mind that another special holiday season is upon
us. And realize that just as last Christmas, our freedoms, rights and
democratic institutions stand a little less sturdy than in years past.
Like a Christmas tree once so fragrant, living and robust that eventually
dies, withers and is thrown out, the freedoms and rights we take for
granted are disappearing and decaying before our eyes, being granted
instead to the many conglomerates that make up the corporate Leviathan.

Something is amiss in
this great nation, and the downward spiral begins with the Leviathan, that
most ominous of creatures, spawned by the mating of debauched capitalism
with unhindered power, that has taken control of our government and the
representatives we elected to serve our interests. At the top of the
Leviathan, acting not as its brain but as its actions, easily maneuvered
by the plethora of strings attached to his appendages, is George W. Bush,
the President of the United Corporations of America. Dubiously anointed to
watch over this great land, he has presided over the greatest corporate
leeching and raping of a nation in human history. Thanks to him, the
Leviathan has: trampled worker rights, robbed us of our life savings, been
granted numerous pollution spewing exceptions, transferred out hundreds of
thousands of jobs to low wage slave nations, been granted billions of
dollars in tax breaks and government subsidies and has had a perpetual war
declared in its interests from which it will reap billions of dollars in
profiteering, I mean reconstruction, deals. Installing Bush in office has
had its rewards. All this, of course, to the huge detriment of you and I
and the future of our progeny.

Since the coup d’etat
that overthrew democracy in November 2000, a new paradigm has emerged, one
in which the political battles being waged are of such importance and
magnitude not just to the politician seeking office, but to the interests
of the Leviathan as well. We have reached that most frightening stage in
our capitalistic development whereby the unyielding and ever-increasing
power of the Leviathan trumps the dwindling power of democracy by the
people. Now, more than ever, the idea of democracy is but a barren façade
injected into our psyches that gives the illusion that we are active
participants in the direction the US is headed towards. In reality, we are
nothing but pawns in a system run by the powerful elite oligarchy.

The beginning of the end
of democracy as we know it began with that fatefully deceitful election in
2000. What has been the natural and inevitable progression the destructive
forces of unhindered capitalism were blindly leading us towards has come
to fruition. It is the mixture of government with big business, the
combination of state power with that of the Leviathan, of powerful
corporate-government elites and oligarchs dancing a jovial waltz of
unfettered powermongering, forming one of the most perilous forces to be
spawned by man. It is called fascism, brought to our nation by the
fluctuating winds of ideology and fraud.

From now on, the
Leviathan’s puppetmasters will do everything in their capacity to control
the reins of power, and this will include much more calculated, careful
and clandestine usurpations of our democratic principles than the
almost-botched defrauding that took place in Florida 2000. Democracy in
this country is being eroded not by the sands of time but by the
expropriators of the electorate.

This recipe for deception
that greed has brought onto our shores is common practice in developing
nations such as those in Latin America (Mexico for 70 years under the PRI
being the perfect example) that purport to be democratic but in reality
have run US backed quasi-dictatorships for decades. It is here where the
ruling elite minority showcase the mirage of elections simply to contain
the populace into a perpetual state of stupor and complacency, creating in
the masses the impression that their vote counted in an election that is
labeled "clean and democratic."

In the end, widespread
fraud has been committed through media and government propaganda and the
sheer audacity and old time tradition of stuffing and losing ballots. When
it is all said and done, the powerful have their man at the helm and the
illusion is created whereby the masses are made to believe that the person
who received the most votes now has a national mandate to lead. Of course
nothing could be further from the truth. This phenomenon is prevalent at
the local, state and national levels of governance. It is a fight for
power, money and control, of huge importance to a ruling party of robber
barons and scoundrels that can both continue plundering the nation blind
and running the nation like their own feudal estate. We are now seeing the
reality of this in the US.

The power of the
Leviathan is made that much stronger by having a willing puppet sitting in
the White House. This can be seen in the incredible amount of laws,
appropriations, tax breaks, pork, corporate welfare, privatization of
government services, legal indifference, regulations and decisions made by
Bush since taking office in favor of those personalities comprising the
various parts of the Leviathan. These actions, by consequence, have only
served to squander our rights and freedoms by trampling worker rights and
wages, civil liberties, pollution laws, social services, education and the
like. The pressure has also been exerted on us by creating a sense of fear
amongst the population that makes it known that if we do not acquiesce to
these changes, we will be labeled and attacked, as in fascist tyrannies,
as being "unpatriotic," "treasonous," and "sympathetic to the terrorists."
You are "either with us or against us," after all. To protest, seek
transparency, accountability and the truth is to be a terrorist traitor,
an "enemy combatant."

****

What the 2000 debacle in
Florida manifests is the great lengths the Leviathan – composed of
corporations, the military-industrial complex and the oil/energy cartel,
and having an ignorant army of foot soldiers called fundamentalist
Christians – will go to in assuring for itself the allegiance of the most
powerful man on the planet. The election of 2000 simply had to be won,
even by a pervasive fraud that disenfranchised voters. We will elect you
but you must advance our cause. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch
yours. When the insatiable addiction of power and control intermingles
inside a molotov cocktail of greed and love for the almighty dollar those
who rule will do anything to stay in their perched positions of hereditary
and nepotistic circumstance.

What worked in Florida
was the embedding of a strong ally of the Leviathan, Jeb Bush, to the
state governorship and by consequences the state electoral system, of
which the notorious Katherine Harris was in control of. She was not only
in charge of the election mechanisms in the state but she was George W.
Bush’s Florida campaign coordinator. Now, I am no hound dog, but that sure
smells like a conflict of interest to me. A brother and a campaign
coordinator basically deciding in favor of Bush, in a state both parties
knew would decide the election.

As such, tens of
thousands of black eligible voters were purged from the voting records, in
essence denied the opportunity to cast a vote by covertly being labeled
with a criminal record they did not have or deserve. The vast majority of
these voters would have most likely voted for Al Gore. The elimination of
thousands of black votes, in a state that was a virtual toss-up, assured
Bush of victory, and the Leviathan the Presidency. And, since the votes
were black, in destitute and indigent areas, no scandal would be brought
to the public conscious by a restrained and corporate-friendly media. The
planning for this defrauding of American democracy was extensive,
premeditated and meticulous. It is the result of power gone insane, of the
consequences of allowing crony capitalism to run rampant, full of money
and greed, to corrupt a system that in 220-year-old paper, at least,
seemed brilliant. The clandestine sabotage of American democracy had been
set in motion.

The election was of
paramount importance to the Leviathan and fundamentalist Christian
concerns, and today we can see why. The takeover of America has commenced;
the fusion of corporate and government power is upon us; the use of
religion in government policy and comments is increasing, a police state
has been engendered. Democracy is being constricted, our freedoms and
rights of speech, protest, assembly and open criticism are methodically
being curtailed. Opposition is being silenced, protests squashed. The Bill
of Rights and the Constitution are slowly being burned into dark gray ash.
Fascism is on the horizon, its black horse riding thunderously through the
plains of ignorance, slashing open government treasure and releasing the
winds of war in its thrust to empire. We are living in dangerous times,
and, if nothing is done soon, our destiny will be forever scarred by the
whips of totalitarianism on our way to the gallows of servitude.

Ignorant we grow to the
coming chaos, lost among our escapes and fantasies, our patriotism and
fear. The corporate Leviathan has swallowed and morphed with government,
becoming one and the same, the oligarchy now in possession of the richest
nation in history, controlling the most modern army the world has ever
seen. The quest to duplicate and surpass the empires of Greece, Rome and
England continues; death and destruction, suffering and pillage, these are
the times that try men’s souls and which the great books of history
forebodingly warn about.

****

The gradual elimination
of democracy begun in November 2000 has continued with the Republican
redistricting battle in several states, most notably Texas and Colorado.
These blatant operations are done for the sole purpose of disenfranchising
mostly minority voters by reshaping districts for the purpose of making
them Republican strongholds. These new districts will thus vote
Republican, helping send to Congress Tom Delay’s grunts and yes-men. With
more firepower, the Republican party (the greater of two evils comprised
of traveling salesmen loyal not to us but the Leviathan) can control more
aspects of the agenda it wants imposed on the nation. There is a
frightening trend taking place, one that subverts democracy throughout our
nation for the sake of maintaining in power a force put in place in
November 2000 that is gradually robbing us of what this great nation once
so proudly stood for.

With Congress under the
hypnotizing power of greed and power the Leviathan can more easily move
the strings of government. It opens the door to unfettered power in the
hands of Bush, who can rule with impunity and complete lack of
accountability. His edicts go unchallenged, his secrets remain hidden and
slowly but surely he transforms the country into a nation of serfs
obedient to our feudal lords. In the vast majority of times, the Bush
agenda is a spitting image of the one espoused by the corporate Leviathan
that is designed to grant the beast more power to the detriment of the
working masses. We are witnessing the metamorphosis of a President
ordained by the powers that be to become Dictator. This mutation is
transpiring before our ignorant eyes, ever so slowly, ever so
clandestinely. When the day comes that our eyes open from our slumber of
lethargy we will find ourselves chanting the slogans of autocracy and
marching step by step with the armies of despotism.

****

In California, a
democratically elected governor, suffering from fiscal crisis and
unlikeability, was used as a scapegoat for the electorate’s ills and anger
and was recalled earlier this year thanks to the Republican anti-democracy
movement. The Republican brains installed, through propaganda, fascination
with stardom and the gullibility of the average Californian, an actor
governor who can both help facilitate Bush’s victory in the state in 2004
and facilitate Republican control of state government. What began with the
political impeachment of Bill Clinton, ingeniously contrived to garner
anger and support from millions of traditional conservative voters into a
massive mobilized outpouring of votes for Bush in 2000 under the theme
"restoring honor and integrity to the White House," continued with the
manipulation in California. Like pawns, conservative voters were used,
falling for Republican propaganda in electing Bush in 2000 and Arnold this
past fall. The California coup further subverted our democratic beliefs,
and we were all willing participants in the Republican/Leviathan plan for
maintaining Bush in 2004.

Today, as a continuation
of the Bush 2004 plan, the corporate media is already conditioning us to
the greatness and virtues of George W. Bush, feeding us incessant
propaganda about the "war on terror" and our President’s valor and
leadership abilities in times of great uncertainty. The use of fear will
be applied like never before to scare us all into voting Bush back in
office. 9/11 and its emotions will be exploited, the use of terror will be
hammered and emphasized, patriotism and the illusion of freedom will rule
the airwaves. The Democratic candidate will be subjected to the greatest
smear and negative campaign you will ever see. The Leviathan’s
manipulations know no bounds, and this form of democratic erosion may be
enough to guarantee a Bush victory next year. When so much is at stake for
the Leviathan, it unleashes the fires of hell to guarantee victory.

A little less publicized
but more ominous sign of the disappearance of democracy were the
congressional elections in Georgia in 2002, where under dubious
circumstances Democrat candidates lost elections to underdog Republicans.
Now, you might say, that does not mean much, underdogs occasionally do
win. What set this election apart, however, was the use of electronic
voting machines, and the numerous rumors of fraudulent manipulation of
software that spread throughout the state. Other irregularities (such as
disappearing, misplaced, shuffled and lost votes) concerning electronic
voting machines have been reported in various states throughout the
country.

Much more dangerous is
the exponentially-growing use of electronic voting machines around the
nation that cast votes through touchscreen methods without a paper trail
or auditing. Every year, more and more precincts are switching to these
voting machines whose manufacturers are owned and operated by supporters
of the GOP. One company contracted to provide these machines, Diebold, has
in recent months been under fire for leaked emails concerning the stated
vulnerability of its machines to outside tampering. Diebold machines do
not provide a paper record or printout, thus lending themselves to
manipulation. Of course the great worry to democracy is the fact that the
CEO of Diebold, Michael O'Dell, is also a huge supported of George W. Bush
who has promised to deliver Ohio’s votes to the incumbent President. He
has hosted a $600,000 fundraising dinner for Vice President Cheney and
Diebold’s board has itself contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to
Republican campaigns. Another company in the industry, ES&S, was once
owned by the Republican Senator from Nebraska, Chuck Hagel.

These machines will
naturally be implemented in those areas of the country that can afford
them, mostly in white neighborhoods. The threat of fraud through
electronic voting machines should not be taken lightly given the fast
approaching election of 2004, perhaps the most important vote Americans
have and will ever make. With the technology undoubtedly becoming the
future, fraud will never be easier. It is hard to stuff 100,000 ballots by
hand, but by computer, it is only a click away. A few thousand omissions
here, a few thousand additions there and what gets created is an
effortless tampering of an election and the gradual evisceration of
democracy. Of paramount importance is the transparency and accountability
of this growing technology. If left in the wrong hands, democracy as we
know it could be a relic of history, nothing but a minor sentence in the
grand book of human civilization. Fraud does not disappear with the
progress of time, it evolves, and so must we.

In urban, minority areas,
usually too financially strapped to purchase expensive Diebold or ES&S
machines, older, outdated and easily corruptible machines are used. These
machines, which have been used for years in these usually indigent
precincts, have consistently been culpable disenfranchisers of the
American minority. The debacle in Florida 2000 is a perfect illustration
of just how many votes are never counted using outdated machines. Since
minorities usually vote Democrat, it is easy to discern who benefits and
who does not. This is another sleek and stealthy Jim Crow maneuver by
those in power. It is the 21st century version of denying
minorities a voice in how their government is run. With the growing number
of people of color rising every year, it is in the oligarchy’s best
interest to assure that their votes are manipulated, one way or another,
so that they do not interfere with the designs of those in power.

****

There is a method to the
madness in all these anti-democracy manifestations, and that is to assure
the continuation of oligarchic power in government which in turn leads to
corporate Leviathan control over our nation. The intertwined weave of
government and big business has begun the process of exploiting us all
into the subservient serfs of yesteryear. Corporate control of the
government is not a far-fetched illusion; it is reality, it is here and it
is now. The Leviathan’s power, wealth and greed are at their apex after
years of growing, maturing, subjugating and exploiting. Never has the
Leviathan yielded so much strength and influence not only in the confines
of this country but throughout the world.

Simply look around you to
see the reality that so many of us refuse to acknowledge. Congressional
loyalty not to us but the corporate world, a President whose every act
only emboldens the Leviathan and augments his own powers, a homogenous
corporate media spewing brainwashing propaganda, the usurpation of laws
and regulations that once protected workers, education, the environment,
the sick, poor, middle class, elderly, children and women. The absurd debt
and deficit figures purposely created to shift government spending away
from appropriating social services and towards a permanent military
economy. Our rights and freedoms are being rolled back, giving way to an
authoritarian society catering and empowering only the elite oligarchs.
Pollution from their factories kills and sickens hundreds of thousands
each year. We are prevented from purchasing prescription drugs from
outside the US. Higher education is being made harder to attain. The cost
of healthcare is highway robbery, our veterans are swept underneath the
rug of apathy. Our taxes support their evils, our children die in their
wars, our wallets and sacrifice make them richer and our votes grant them
the mandate to do with us as they please. The war against us has been
unleashed.

In
this assault against us, the Leviathan is slowly but surely chaining us to
the dark, stagnant dungeons of fascism, or, in Mussolini’s words,
corporatism. The road leading to this form of governance is gradual and
stealthy, but the signs all point in this most ignoble direction. After
all, Hitler and the Nazis did not rise overnight; it took years of careful
planning and orchestration to meticulously prepare the system, and the
people. Yet corporatism has many faces and shades of gray, each form
evolving differently according to the tools at the rulers’ disposal. Ours
is a velvet-like approach that upholds the illusion of liberty, freedom
and democratic traditions while disintegrating each one in the most
leisurely of ways.

Dark clouds loom in the
horizon, the nefarious Leviathan is becoming omnipotent. Its claws are
deeply entrenched in the soils of governance, despoiling man and land, air
and water. The addiction of power is ruining a once grand system of the
people, by the people and for the people, leaving us at the margins of
impotence on our passage from noble country of freedom towards degraded
beacon of exploitation and avarice. Freedoms we once enjoyed our children
will never know existed. Rights we once shared our progeny will only dream
about. A nation we once loved our offspring will learn to revile. In the
course of human events, what happens in the next ten months might decide
the next 100 years of human history and the combined future of over six
billion people. These are indeed the times that try men’s souls.

So this Christmas, in the
accompanying warmth of family and in the glow of logs cracking bright,
take a second to ponder our remaining freedoms and rights. Democracy is
dying, the Constitution is going bust, together must we battle, before all
we have is lost. To all you who care about this great nation, it is time
we erupt into one vast and peaceful conflagration.

Manuel Valenzuela is an attorney, consultant, freelance writer
and author of
Echoes in the Wind, a novel that will be published in 2004. He lives
in Madison, Wisconsin and can be reached at
manuel@valenzuelas.net.